Research detects biological alarm clock

WASHINGTON – Your alarm is set for 6 a.m. but for some reason you wake up a minute or two before the alarm sounds.

How do you do that?

Psychology Today reports that people are all equipped with their own internal alarm clocks.

German researchers have discovered what could be the first biological evidence for humans’ ability to wake up at will. All you need is stress, not batteries, to set off these alarm clocks.

The anticipation of waking up appears to trigger the release of hormones that the body secretes in times of stress. An hour or more before you intend to wake up the secretions increase in preparation for waking up.

But just how accurate is your internal clock? Well, you might still want to set the digital alarm on your night stand. You don’t want to miss that meeting with your boss at 9 a.m.

WTOP Reporter David Burd contributed to this report. Follow @DavidBurdWTOP and @WTOP on Twitter.